Mike Pence: “Today Congress is once again poised to pass legislation that authorizes the use of Federal tax dollars to fund the…”

“Today Congress is once again poised to pass legislation that authorizes the use of Federal tax dollars to fund the destruction of human embryos for scientific research, and I oppose it. I believe that life begins at conception. A human embryo is a human life, and therefore I do think it is morally wrong to create human life to destroy it for research. But while supporters of this bill will argue this debate is a battle between science and ideology, that really misses the point. The debate today is not about whether we should do embryonic stem cell research. It is legal in all 50 States of this country. The debate today is about who pays for it. It is simply morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans who believe that life is sacred and use it to fund the destruction of human embryos for research. The debate today is not really about what an embryo is. The debate is about who we are as a Nation and whether we will respect the deeply held moral views of more than half of our citizenry. I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill. Having been here before, I expect its passage. On behalf of millions of pro-life Americans, I say, Mr. President, veto this bill again.”